If the aims of the Care Bill are to be realised, social workers must be fully recognised and valued by fellow professionals as making a specific contribution to the well-being of individuals and communities. They will have to be confident and assertive with their health colleagues, to overcome the exclusive “medical model” of the NHS and combine it more effectively with the social model of disability and need, public health planning and models of community development.

The government’s decision to put individual well-being at the heart of the Care Bill has the potential to be its most radical innovation. We believe that the well-being principle, if it is fully implemented as part of the legislation, can bring about a deep-seated change in community-based health and social care services and improve the lives of the people who use those services.

The bill also emphasises the importance of prevention, which must be at the heart of any health and social care system which promotes well being. It will take strong social work leadership to reshape health and social care so that it is less reliant on crisis-driven services and more focused on preventing and postponing the need for care and support in the first place.

The bill also emphasises the importance of prevention, which must be at the heart of any health and social care system which promotes well being. It will take strong social work leadership to reshape health and social care so that it is less reliant on crisis-driven services and more focused on